South Asia, the British Empire, and the Rise of Classical Legal Thought

This book delves into the legal history of colonial governance in South Asia, spanning the period from 1757 to the early 20th century. It traces a notable shift in the way sovereignty, land control, and legal rectification were conceptualized, particularly after 1858. During the early phase of the rule of the East India Company, the focus was on 'the laws' that influenced the administration of justice rather than 'the law' as a comprehensive normative system. The Company's perspective emphasized absolute property rights, particularly concerning land rent, rather than physical control over land. This viewpoint was expressed through the obligation of revenue payment, with property existing somewhat outside the realm of law. This early colonial South Asian legal framework differed significantly from the Anglo-common law tradition, which had already developed a unified and physical concept of property rights as a distinct legal form by the late 18th century. It was only after the transfer of authority from the Company to the British Crown, along with other shifts in the imperial political economy, that the conditions were ripe for 'the law' to emerge as an autonomous and fundamental institutional concept. One of the contributing factors to this transformation was the emergence of classical legal thought. Under Crown rule, two distinct forms of discourse contributed to reshaping the legal ontology around the globalized notion of 'the law' as an independent concept. The book, adopting a historical approach to jurisprudence, categorizes these forms as doctrinal discourse, which could articulate propositions of the law with practical and administrative qualities, and ordinary language discourse, which conveyed ideas about the law, including in the public domain.

Faisal Chaudhry, Assistant Professor of Law and History, University of Massachusetts School of Law, Dartmouth Faisal Chaudhry is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. He also holds a concurrent appointment in the Department of History as well. His academic background includes positions at the University of Dayton and the University of Pennsylvania. Chaudhry's historical research centres on the interplay between law, empire, and political economy in South Asia, with a focus on the historical convergence of legal and economic concepts. In his contemporary scholarship, he examines the role of law in supporting markets and the complex impact of property rights institutions on our overall well-being.